So when $120 million NARFE Premier Federal Credit Union startedsearching for other solutions that could help diversify its 10,000members' retirement plans, it was important to have an offeringthat would allow nest egg savings to be stretched into incomedistribution over a long period of time, said Todd Hoepker, seniorvice president, strategy and market development at NARFE Premier.For one, most of the credit union members participate in the thriftsavings plan, a retirement savings and investment plan for federalemployees. However, the plan does not have an annuity option, whichis something members had been asking about.

"They want that ability to rollover into a high-rate account,"Hoepker said. "The majority of members are middle income. We wantto be able give them more opportunities to diversify."

NARFE Premier wasn't satisfied with the remote-delivery servicesit had with a major industry provider for seven years, Hoepkersaid, adding the credit union wasn't seeing a lot of activity.Rather than throwing out the program and starting from scratch, thegoal was to bring more services and products into the lineup sothat members could have more options.

The credit union linked up with United Nations FCU FinancialAdvisors' Income Solutions, a platform of institutionally priced,immediate annuities. The Web-based retirement annuity pioneered byHueler Investment Services offers members several features whenconverting their retirement assets, including competitive quotes,10 carriers and fees that are less than the retail market,according to UNFCU.

"It gives the retired member who may be looking for anothersource of monthly income in a market that's doing what it's doing[now]--steady income," Hoepker said. "We're focused on making surewe have the right product regardless of [a
member's] means."

Steve Ryerson, president of UNFCU Financial Advisors, said theCUSO is looking forward to the new relationship.

"NARFE Premier FCU has long championed retirement education andsupported benefits programs for federal employees, retirees andtheir families," Ryerson said.

NARFE, the association, has been vocal in Washington to ensurethat federal employees are not left out in the cold as legislatorsconsider cuts in retirement benefits. The group has testified onextending premium conversion rights that federal and postalemployees have to federal annuitants, so that retirees too can paytheir federal employee health benefits premiums with pretaxdollars, which could save an average $400 each year, according toNARFE. Repealing the Social Security government pension offset andwindfall elimination provisions has also been at the top of theassociation's list. Both provisions could substantially reduce theexpected retirement income of retired federal workers, the grouphas said.

Meanwhile, NARFE Premier had a soft launch of Income Solutionsin mid-May and officially offered the product on July 1. The creditunion recently spoke at a NARFE meeting in Florida and thereception went very well, Hoepker said. More presentations arescheduled to come at other NARFE meetings.

"The average NARFE Premier member is 52 compared to the nationalaverage of 47. We have quite a few active employees who are in theprocess of planning for retirement," Hoepker said. "We offer IRAproducts, but we want to be able to offer additional programs."

The credit union recently cobranded its Web site with UNFCU'sIncome Solutions. Hoepker said NARFE Premier is considering signingon to investment advisory services through UNFCU FinancialAdvisors, a division of UNFCU Financial Services LLC, which is awholly owned subsidiary of the $2.6 billion United Nations FCU. Theability to house trust accounts are in the final stages, Hoepkersaid.

"We won't establish trust accounts, just house them. The scale,seeing that it takes up to 10 years to see a return and theup-front costs, led us to decide to do it this way," Hoepkerexplained.

Even though NARFE Premier's members are either near or inretirement, the credit union is ramping up its outreach efforts toyoung people.

"With the transfer in wealth that's being talked about, we feelit's also important to cover the other end of the spectrum,"Hoepker said, adding the credit union is aiming to get severalprograms off the ground in the third quarter.

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